Packet networking is a form of data communication in which data packets are routed from a source device to a destination device. Packets can be networked directly between a source node and a destination node, or the packets can be relayed through a number of intermediate nodes.
A wireless network can include a wireless device being connected to a network through a base station that is wired to the network. The wireless device can transmit data packets that are received by the base station and then routed through the network. The wireless network can include many base stations that are each wired to the network. This type of wireless network is limited because it requires wired connection to each base station.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art mesh network that requires fewer wired connections. The mesh network includes interconnected nodes A 110, B 120, C 130, D 140, E, 150. One or more of the nodes is connected to another network through, for example, a gateway. As shown in FIG. 1, each node 110-150 is required to maintain a full tree 125, to access each node and each gateway to which the node B 120 (for example) gains access. This is disadvantageous because it requires a large memory, which expands as the network expands.
In wireless networks, the quality of the links within the mesh network can be asymmetrical. That is, the quality of a link can vary depending upon the direction in which signals are traveling through the link. This can make selecting optimal routes between access nodes harder to identify. Additionally, the quality of the links between the nodes can vary over time.
It is desirable to have a wireless mesh network that can continually analyze the quality of routing paths through the wireless mesh network, and select an optimal path from among all available routing paths.